Image credit: TRU WolfPack

By Larry Read

Fredrico Martins

WolfPack recruit cracks Portgual national U-18 basketball team

Jul 22, 2019 | 2:40 PM

KAMLOOPS—A member of the Thompson Rives University WolfPack men’s basketball team has made his country’s U-18 national team.

Fredrico Martins is a 6’1” guard who playes club volleyball for Estoril Basket Clube. He committed to the WolfPack in late May.

Martins and his Portuguese teammates played in a tournament this past weekend in their home country and are now travelling to Romania for the European “B” championships.

Portugal begins group play on Friday when they take on Belarus.

Portugal is in a division with Austria, Hungary, Kosovo, Sweden and Belarus.

Week in Review

Week in Review: Week of Sept. 16

2h ago

Two and Out

PETERS: Destruction of the Red Bridge clears the way for something much, much better

Sep 20, 2024

Looped In

LOOPED IN WITH NIKKI OMEN: September 19, 2024

Sep 19, 2024

Says WolfPack head coach Scott Clark about Martins’ selection to the national team, “He has played quite well so far, being their leading scorer in a couple of games in that previous tournament and one in Luxemburg. It is great for him but also great for us. We are getting a guy who has been going in two-a-day- practices with his national team. He has been playing in meaningful games and getting meaningful minutes. It is always beneficial when your players can get some great training in the off season.”

Clark believes Martins’ experience at the European championships will help ease his transition to USPORT and the WolfPack. “ It is high level play. The rules we play are FIBA which are the same we play. The European “B” championships will be comparable to Canadian University basketball. We’ve had athletes from the Ukraine (Vlad Iegorov and most recently Anton Bilous) who adjusted quickly from Europe. We are expecting Fredrico to have the same easy transition.”

The WolfPack coach says Portugal is a country on the rise in European basketball with their U-20 squad recently winning their European “B” championship.

Martins has played for his country before: with the U-16 national team. He averaged over 18 points and five assists per game with his club team. He will be taking courses aimed at earning a Bachelor of Business Administration degree at Thompson Rivers.

DOUBLE DRIBBLES: The rest of the ‘group stage’ games for Portugal are July 27^th vs Hungary, July 28^th against Sweden, July 30^th vs Austria and then closing things out with a July 31^st encounter against Kosovo.